Fox has announced that it has picked up BBC’s CGI/live-action hybrid Walking With Dinosaurs for a theatrical run beginning December 20, 2013. Walking With Dinosaurs is described as a family-oriented adventure story of an underdog dinosaur who rises through the ranks to be the hero for his kind. Based on the popular BBC series created by Tim Haines, this feature-length endeavor is directed by Neil Nightingale and Pierre De Lespinious. Stuart Ford’s IM Global sold the domestic U.S. rights as well as other key territory rights to Fox for $65 million last fall.

Wait a minute, is this a new film that they’re doing, or are they redistributing the old anthology from 1999? And what’s this about it being a family-friendly adventure story? An underdog dinosaur becoming a hero? In my recollection, the Walking With Dinosaurs Series, which I am quite fond of, was supposed to be BBC’s attempt at making a documentary about dinosaurs with no opportunity for filming the real things available (obviously). Much time and research went into the project, and scientific accuracy was held above all else. Marketing it like this is a joke, and family-friendly is debatable because there was a fair amount of gore in these documentaries. Censoring down to kiddie comfort levels would be insulting.